Manaburn

War of the Suites

Remember, little friends, that James’ rules say to keep OOC to a minimum. We started strong, but this has been slipping of late. And this makes Paladins sad. :( Look, I even made a little face to emphasize the point! And when Paladins get sad then they can lose some of their finesse in social situations! Just food for thought!

Leopold cast an eye around the inside of the wagon, ensuring the people that fate had thrown him together with were asleep and that he had some privacy to do what he must. Nodding to himself he bowed his head and closed his eyes, running through the exercises he had been taught by the order to slow his breathing and clear his mind.

Instinctively his hand fell to hold the burnished metal covers of his codex as he lowered himself into the deepest mindset of prayer, opening himself to his god as he sought guidance, not simply to give thanks.

“Toma Thule, Father of Kings and Lion of Gods, please, hear your troubled servant in this most trying of times. I have been brought to this strange land of Sohte, whether through your will or the machinations of some dark power I do not know. I am alone of the faith, separated from my brothers and I am lost without the guidance of the elders and my captains. When I woke I was alone in a city of words and darkness, a twisted realm that was inhabited by entities of shadow and some of evil. I was fortunate that I found others like me, strangers in this land, but none of them share the faith and I find it hard to trust them. However, necessity breeds camaraderie so we have formed a bond, galvanised by the horrors of the dark city, normally I would not use such a word, but I faced a foe there unlike any other; a knight of shadow who chilled me to my core. I am ashamed to admit but my resolve was weakened by him and I felt the icy claws of fear in my deepest being when I faced him…”

With this the knight pauses as their wagon bounces over a particularly large rut in the road, watching to ensure his fellows sleep on the leonine warrior idly begins to finger through the rosary binding the bronze hammer the Jack gave him as he vividly remembers the shadow driving it’s arm through him.

“I held firm, though, Lord. And when hope seemed lost and I called upon you I awoke outside the city and away from the monstrosity, so I know your hand still guides my path, and for that I am more thankful than I have the words to express. A strange man, although I am reluctant to use that word, cared for us after we were cast from the city, he introduced himself as ‘the Jack’ as if it were some form of title in this land, he even tried to explain it, but none of the words we offered proved sufficient to him. While he offered us great charity in taking us in and providing for us, he just felt wrong to me, Sire, however I intend to fulfil the debt I owe him and see my allies fulfil the promise they made to him to deliver an artefact they found in the city to the ‘Floating Market’ in the ‘Kingdom of Diamond’ and find a scholar who can shed some insight on what it is and its significance. With any luck this journey will allow me more clarity on what your will for your humble servant is.

Speaking of my journey, my companions are a motley bunch; I am not sure what to make of them. One of them speaks in riddles, narrating his life and calling himself ‘Chrome’. Hardly a name, however it will suffice to address him. I worry that his mind is weak, however I remember well your teachings that it is the duty of the sound of mind to care for those less fortunate, so I shall endeavour to care for him, in the hopes that you see fit to restore his faculties.
I also travel with a man of the woods who goes by ‘Artemis’, he is intemperate and lacks restraint, so much so that he was seduced by some creature in the shape of a woman, and this unlawful union resulted in an abnormal child, it has aged over half a year in as many hours, learning how to read and talk without tuition. I opened my mind to it but I could sense no darkness in its heart and I will continue to do so, whenever I have the opportunity. However, I have read of the miraculous children of the old times so I shall stand as a bulwark and allow no undue harm to come to it.

Finally, there is the man who calls himself ‘Lucius’, I am familiar with his kind, I do not doubt he seeks to further himself, however his gains coincide with mine own for now, so I shall allow him to proceed along his path, while acting as an exemplar for how to live a good, valuable life. However, I cannot help but feel a touch of disdain for how he places me between him and any perceived threat, but I know that cowardice is a characteristic common to those lacking faith so I shall endure it.

We have found passage with a Halfling who goes by the name ‘Jheets’, but as he has proven himself remarkably… ‘perceptive’ I shall not speak of him aloud for now, Master. He has agreed to take us to the ‘tunnel’ that will lead us into the kingdom of Diamond, so I shall not refuse his generosity simply on what I suspect his true character is.

Grant me strength, both in body and mind, Toma Thule. I shall attend to the vigour of my faith for the trials to come.”

With this the large, armour-clad man sat in silence for some time before beginning his daily ablutions of maintenance, ensuring his armour’s pristine condition was maintained.

Hi guys, Glych here, just giving you a brief rundown of rules for this campaign, to help you work out if this is a game you’d like to play.

Magic

First of all, this will be a low magic campaign. Magic in Sohte is split into Tiers, like this:

Plain (a.k.a Pleb, Mundane)
Anything non-magical.

Tricks
Spells from level 0-2 can be cast by a few commoners, often manifesting as a single spell (or “trick”). The most common of these is known as “the sight” and is the ability to detect magic.

Noble
Spells from level 3-5 are only available to the 10 houses of each kingdom, due to their relationship to the King and Queen. It is uncommon and obvious displays of this magic will raise suspicion, if not outright alarm.

Jack
Spells of level 6 are referred to as “Jack Magic”, and is the domain of the 4 Jacks. It is almost never seen, due to the very nature of it being subtle.

Royal
Spells up to and including 9th level spells are referred to as “Royal Magic”, and is the domain of the Kings and Queens. A general rule of thumb is the King possesses Arcane Magic, while the Queen controls Divine, although Heart is an exception to this rule. The planet itself can only stand so many of these casters, and while a foolish noble will occasionally attempt to channel such power, he is always utterly obliterated.

Ace
Never seen. Only example known of is the Old Road, which is still used for transport within each kingdom by the merchant and noble classes. Ace magic is EPICMAGIC, and cannot be replicated by anyone, not even the Kings and Queens.

Classes

Players will be able to play classes which can advance up to 6th level spell casting (except the Magus and Summoner, due to them getting higher level spells at lower levels). Be aware that blatant usage of such magic will alert authorities very quickly. Using magic in public is viewed in the same light as drawing a weapon and swinging it around; illegal.

“But Glych”, I hear you cry, “Why can’t I play a Wizard? They’re so much fun!”

The answer is simple; “Oh no they’re not”.
A wizard (and sorcerer, and cleric, and oracle, and favoured soul, and wu jen, and all the other variants) are all T1 or T2. They make the game boring for other players, make the story very difficult to control for the GM, and generally pull all attention onto themselves. This is precisely what I’m trying to avoid, as I KNOW that they can be countered, but I also know that countering a PC makes the PC feel victimised, even if it’s not the case. So no, no time stop in this campaign. No, not even then.

Luck

I know how much fun they can sometimes be, but I’m tweaking the ruling on the Natural 20 and its ugly brother, the Natural 1. Neither will be automatic success or failure, and instead will simply add a +10 or -10 to whatever check you are attempting. This is because it is ridiculous that a master painter has a 1 in 20 chance of stabbing himself in the eye with the paintbrush, the same chance a complete amateur has. As the saying goes “The more I practice, the luckier I get”. If you put the time into a skill, you therefore won’t suffer the -10 as much.

Races

Human only. This is due to the setting.

Stats

25 point buy, NO DUMPINGSTATSBELOW 10. You’ll see why in the first session.

Feats

I’m using the pathfinder rules, so 1 every odd level. 3.5 feats are allowed on a case by case basis, and are replaced by any in Pathfinder (so you can’t use the 3.5 Power Attack).

Alignment

No Evil. No Stupid.

Levelling

Start at level 6/7 (still deciding). Level up will be at my discretion, I’m not using xp.

Why so serious?

This is a slightly different request. I’m going to try to run a completely straight game. By this I mean I will refer to players by their character name in-game, and I’d prefer OOC discussions to be kept to a minimum. This is because I think that once people step OOC, any tension or story being developed can fall flat. So yes, try to keep in character.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.